Paper webs or sheets, sometimes called tissue or paper tissue webs or sheets, and products made therefrom, such as paper handkerchiefs, sometimes also called facial tissues, find extensive use in modern society. Such items as facial and toilet tissues and kitchen towels are staple items of commerce, all of which are herein referred to as paper tissue products. It has long been recognized that important physical attributes of these products are their strength and thickness/caliper, their softness and smoothness, their absorbency, and their lint resistance. Research and development efforts have been directed to the improvement of each of these attributes without seriously affecting the others as well as to the improvement of two or three attributes simultaneously.
Softness and smoothness relate to the tactile sensation perceived by the consumer when holding a particular product, rubbing it across the skin, or crumpling it within the hands. The tactile sensation is a combination of several physical properties. The tactile sensation can be well captured by the objective parameter of the physiological surface smoothness (PSS) parameter as known e.g. from U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,738. As important for the tactile sensation of consumers is the thickness/caliper of a tissue product.
Strength is the ability of the product to maintain physical integrity and to resist tearing, bursting, and shredding under use conditions.
Absorbency is the measure of the ability of a product to absorb quantities of liquid, particularly aqueous solutions or dispersions. Overall absorbency as perceived by the consumer is generally considered to be a combination of the total quantity of a liquid a given mass of paper tissue will absorb at saturation as well as the rate at which the mass absorbs the liquid.
Lint resistance is the ability of the fibrous product, and its constituent webs, to bind together under use conditions, including when wet. In other words, the higher the lint resistance is, the lower the propensity of the web to lint will be.
Through-air-drying can provide high wet burst strength as well as relatively high caliper. Though-air-drying facilities, however, are not generally available on conventional paper making machines and the provision of such equipment means a considerable financial investment. Further, though-air-drying facilities typically have an increased energy consumption as compared to more conventional drying facilities. Therefore it is still of interest to provide superior paper qualities employing conventional paper machines.
It is known in the art to provide facial tissue and paper handkerchiefs with additives to achieve skin care or pharmaceutical benefits, e.g. in the from of lotions. However, the present invention attempts to alleviate the detrimental effects of highly transferable lotions by providing a paper quality and structure particularly suitable for lotioned tissue paper, which still can be produced in a very economic fashion. In particular, the present invention can provide any or all of the following:                improved strength, especially wet burst strength, absorbency and lint resistance.        improved tactile sensation of softness, smoothness and thickness.        a cost effective way to manufacture improved tissue on conventional paper machines and/or through-air-dried paper machines.        a process that allows for the economic application of a lotion.        a product that avoids unwanted premature lotion transfer while ensuring good lotion transfer to a user when needed.        